The present invention relates to closures in general and, more particularly, to a protective cover arrangement for use in closing an opening provided in a panel of a casing of a computer device and/or component or a similar machine to give access to switches or the like.
There are known various constructions of casings of computers and similar machines, wherein at least one of the panels that constitute the casing is provided with at least one opening through which access may be had to switches and similar control devices for operating the same. Machines of this type of construction include various models of computer devices and/or components manufactured by the IBM Corporation. Such machines are in many instances leased from the manufacturer or from a leasing company and, as a result, cannot be modified or damaged by the user in any manner, lest heavy penalties for such damage or modifications, or their repair, be incurred. However, experience has shown that, when access can be had to the switches and/or other control devices through the opening, it often occurs that the positions or states of the switches or devices are changed either unintentionally by a person brushing or leaning against the casing of the machine and accidentally touching one or more of such switches or devices, or deliberately by a person with innocent or malicious intentions reaching into the opening and operating one or more of the switches or devices.
It will be appreciated that, regardless of whether the actuation of the switches or control devices is deliberate or accidental, such actuation can wreak havoc with the operation of the machine and, more particularly, can cause the alteration and/or the loss of valuable information or introduce a costly delay to the user while executing data recovery procedures. Thus, it would be desirable to be able to close such an opening at least in such a manner as to avoid accidental actuation of the switches or other control devices that are situated behind this opening, but preferably also to prevent deliberate actuation thereof by unauthorized personnel during the absence of the user.
Protective covers or guards of various constructions are known, for instance, from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,198,373; 3,204,807; 4,197,959; 4,228,317; 4,289,921; 4,348,660; 4,381,500 and 4,394,552. However, all of these known arrangements suffer from so many drawbacks that they cannot be used in the above-described environment. So, for instance, some of these arrangements have to be mounted on the supporting structure by means of screws or similar fasteners which, of course, presupposes damage to the support structure by holes for the fasteners. Another disadvantage of many of these arrangements is that they project from the supporting structures. This, of course, would be disadvantageous in the contemplated environment for use of the cover arrangement since injury could occur to a person accidentally coming into contact with the projecting cover arrangement while, for instance, walking past the machine. Also, if the machine were to be shipped to a different location, for instance, to the manufacturer or to a service installation for repair, then the casing as augmented by the projecting cover arrangement would not readily fit into the shipping package which is dimensioned for the unaugmented casing.